


Little Cub

by Aly_H



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Adopted Children, Baby mage, Backstory, Fatherhood, Gen, Learning Magic, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-03 22:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17292509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aly_H/pseuds/Aly_H
Summary: Just a quick backstory scene which features Ka'ir, the merchant khajiit, whose adopted altmer son is the future Dragonborn a long time before any of the dragon non-sense begins and the little one is just still a wild cub just barely learning how to cast his first fire spells.





	Little Cub

The khajiit frowned a little as he held up the jacket, examining the many tiny burn marks smattering across the already patchy fabric. The small garment was obviously many times too small for the trader – whose scarred bulk showed every indication of his warrior beginnings even as jet black fur began to gather more grays around his muzzle and his eyes and claws weren’t quite as sharp or strong as they had been in his youth.

“Again, Ka’ir?” the spotted woman dropped into a crouch to examine the jacket. “That little one of yours is too much trouble.”

He hummed a half-agreement, “A little wild, perhaps.”

“Spoiled too,” the woman tsked before she straightened to go about her chores. She had long been of the opinion that he doted far too much and a little more discipline might be the solution. Ka’ir disagreed.

The cub in question was curled up in a nest of blankets after having his hurts tended to. The young elf was shooting up like a spring growth after the rains and would’ve outgrown the patchy jacket soon even without the fire spells getting out of hand. He could still see tufts of long red hair sticking from the blankets.

The altmer child he called his son had been with him since he was an infant. _Corrinar_ , he called the lad. Elvish sounding enough, he’d thought those years back as he wiped the blood free from the child’s face with hands still more used to killing than anything else, and strong.

An infant crying in the forest, a murdered guard in the colors of a noble house – a house of Summerset still carrying him and bosmeri arrows buried in the dead elf’s back. Someone had wanted the baby dead – it was better that whatever name he might once have been was forgotten. Safer.

The cub was more khajiit than he was altmer. A childhood among the caravans did that.

Ka’ir had abandoned a life of banditry in favor for the relative safety of a caravan guard when he’d been unable to part himself from the infant. The massive axe that lay not far from hand – _just in case_ – had been more profitable protecting than it had ever been for stealing. He’d joined the ones further north where those that might hunt the child were less likely to look if they knew it had lived through that winter night.

He’d been taught how to trade and the merchant’s art not long after when it became clear he had a natural talent for talking despite his intimidating appearance.

Now he was here fussing over how to bundle up a child with a penchant for fire magic. Not that it should’ve surprised him that his cub took to magic the way he had – he’d never met a high elf who wasn’t proficient at magic, even the ones that didn’t claim the mantle of _mage_ tended to be riddled with the stuff.

And fire was….well, there were _worse_ natural talents for a cub to have.

One day the skills would serve Corrinar well – the little red haired elf was not the sort to find a quiet life. Too adventurous, too curious, and far, far too kind for a simple or easy life that Ka’ir had once wished for the little one.

The old cat chuckled and set the cloth aside, with that thought: There would be no saving it.

A new jacket would be required - this far North was far too cold for the little furless cub to go without for long – and perhaps a tome or two on magic as well.

If the cub was to be a mage he should _at least_ learn how to heal as well. One day those skills might make the difference.


End file.
